Making it more difficult to install competitors is “leveraging the ability to change windows.”
They very much lost in large part because of a video shown in court of how difficult to install a competitor. They even lied about it by editing their own video which skipped steps showing they knew that behavior was problematic.
As to Intel’s x86 monopoly. Intel paid 1.6 billion in response to a monopoly lawsuit, and the EU fined them $1.45 billion and ordered it to end its customer rebate program. So they where definitely treated like a monopoly.
They have even swapped peoples browsers with security updates before. Though more recent examples like KB 3135173 seem like a simple mistake, it’s more provocative when such things were common.
“Microsoft later submitted a second inaccurate videotape into evidence. The issue was how easy or difficult it was for America Online users to download and install Netscape Navigator onto a Windows PC. Microsoft's videotape showed the process as being quick and easy, resulting in the Netscape icon appearing on the user's desktop. The government produced its own videotape of the same process, revealing that Microsoft's videotape had conveniently removed a long and complex part of the procedure and that the Netscape icon was not placed on the desktop, requiring a user to search for it. Brad Chase, a Microsoft vice president, verified the government's tape and conceded that Microsoft's own tape was falsified.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Cor....
Also I had forgotten about this bit: “Later, Allchin re-ran the demonstration and provided a new videotape, but in so doing Microsoft dropped the claim that Windows is slowed down when IE is removed.”
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/management/m...
FWIW, the reason you might be a bit confused--though I do not think this excuses the time you're spending here--is that Microsoft did not end up broken into two because they appealed that part of the ruling and "won"... but that court of appeals actually re-affirmed that Microsoft's actions were illegal!
https://www.computerworld.com/article/2582620/appeals-court-...
> The appeals court, in its decision, specifically rejected Jackson's order that Microsoft be split. "We vacate the judgment on remedies, because the trial judge engaged in impermissible ex parte contacts by holding secret interviews with members of the media and made numerous offensive comments about Microsoft officials in public statements outside of the courtroom, giving rise to an appearance of partiality," the decision said in part.
This is essentially akin to someone being convicted of something and then appealing the decision to an appeals court that decides "OK, the defendant clearly is guilty, but the chain of evidence used by the district attorney was compromised and so none of it is admissible; thereby, you cannot send them to jail, even though we know they are guilty".
(edit: Also, there were, in fact, serious ramifications on Microsoft for this loss... Bill Gates largely had to step down as CEO due to having gotten the courts so mad at Microsoft that it was almost broken apart, the IE team had a difficult time hiring anyone due to the shame and Internet Explorer ended up on life support <- this is often blamed in Microsoft "not caring as they were a monopoly" but that is far from the truth, and the resulting chaos for Microsoft really allowed Apple an entrance with Steve Jobs back at the helm to retake a large market segment. I did a talk about The Fall of the Roman Empire that covered some of these issues, but more detail on IE is likely a nonsequitur.) https://vimeo.com/310654342
Aka the use of private Windows API’s by IE was explicitly banned in the decent decree.
The initial case which MS lost would have resulted in splitting the company, on appeal and by the time of the new trial (which they also lost) the government changed its mind into no longer seeking to break up the company. But that was on the government not a legal victory by Microsoft.
> However, the DOJ did not require Microsoft to change any of its code nor did it prevent Microsoft from tying other software with Windows in the future
“H. Starting at the earlier of the release of Service Pack 1 for Windows XP or 12 months after the submission of this Final Judgment to the Court, Microsoft shall:
1. Allow end users (via a mechanism readily accessible from the desktop or Start menu such as an Add/Remove icon) and OEMs (via standard preinstallation kits) to enable or remove access to each Microsoft Middleware Product or Non-Microsoft Middleware Product by (a) displaying or removing icons, shortcuts, or menu entries on the desktop or Start menu, or anywhere else in a Windows Operating System Product where”
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2001/11/28/01-2949...
the only way to achieve the above is to change windows code.
The API issue wasn’t one of code it was one of documentation:
“The proposed settlement required Microsoft to share its application programming interfaces with third-party companies and appoint a panel of three people who would have full access to Microsoft's systems, records, and source code for five years in order to ensure compliance.[28]” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Cor....
It publishing API’s may seem like a strange remedy but it was a common tactic they used to limit competition. Netscape for example couldn’t release Netscape for Windows 95 at release because while the IE tea, had access to API’s they weren’t providing them publicly until release.
In the sense that there was ultimately a comparative slap on the wrist remedy, in part because of a favorable-to-Microsoft change in administration between the findings of fact on antitrust violation (in which bundling IE was a factor, but far from the sole factor) and the imposition of a remedy for those violations, yes, nothing much came out of it.
Also, U.S. vs Microsoft wasn’t limited to Netscape vs IE several other companies were involved. The first Prohibited Conduct was in terms of OEMs:
“ A. Microsoft shall not retaliate against an OEM by altering Microsoft's commercial relations with that OEM, or by withholding newly introduced forms of non-monetary Consideration (including but not limited to new versions of existing forms of non-monetary Consideration) from that OEM, because it is known to Microsoft that the OEM is or is contemplating:” …
“B. Microsoft's provision of Windows Operating System Products to Covered OEMs shall be pursuant to uniform license agreements with uniform terms and conditions. Without limiting the foregoing, Microsoft shall charge each Covered OEM the applicable royalty for Windows Operating System Products as set forth on a schedule, to be established by Microsoft and published on a web site accessible to the Plaintiffs and all Covered OEMs, that provides for uniform royalties for Windows Operating System Products, except that:”
Etc
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2001/11/28/01-2949...
> Microsoft for example could have spent unlimited money on IE and the justice department wouldn’t have cared as long as it was treated as a business investment. However, leveraging the ability to change windows was seen as problematic.
And how is it related to anything Google is doing?
> Microsoft for example could have spent unlimited money on IE and the justice department wouldn’t have cared as long as it was treated as a business investment. However, leveraging the ability to change windows was seen as problematic.
There is no confusion. Nothing came out of the DOJ case with respect to MS bundling IE.
Intel has never had a monopoly when it came to x86. IBM insisted from day one that were two suppliers for x86 before it even agreed to use the first chip.